The Ruby
by fmfan1980
Summary: During her spar with Mycah, the butcher's boy, Arya discovers a glowing ruby being carried past her in the fast moving waters of the Trident. Arya grabs it, and her life changes. Game of Thrones AU.


Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to the characters, locations, or plots from Game of Thrones. They belong to their respective owners without whom this fanfiction would not have been possible. All reviews are welcome

**Arya; at the bank of the Trident near Castle Darry.**

TWACK!

Arya swung the long thick stick forward resulting in the butcher's boy, Mycah, hitting the stick with the thick wooden stick in his hand. The two of them were play-sparring with wooden 'swords' near the rushing waters of the Trident. They were several miles away from the location where, years ago, Prince Rhaegar Targaryen fell into the rushing waters after Robert Baratheon's war hammer was smashed into his breast-plate, caving in his chest. It was said that the rubies that adorned the breast-plate fell into the waters of the ford like drops of blood after the impact - thus renaming that particular section the Ruby Ford. Immediately after, the Targaryen Loyalists near the dead body reached for and then made off with any rubies they could, while others stole the Prince's body away so that Robert would not get his hands on their Prince.

Back in the present day, Arya rushed forward swinging the stick in her hand, and then pulled back in defence when Mycah rushed at her.

Twack! Twack! Twack!

The two children were wielding the two sticks as if they were two wooden swords. The waters of the fast flowing river was to Arya's left when she dashed backwards whilst blocking the swings coming from Mycah. It was just then, when she blocked the last swing, that Arya noticed something glowing from underneath the water at the bank closest to her. She raised her hand while panting, "hold… hold…"

Mycah nodded his head as he lowered the arm holding the stick while Arya cautiously walked over towards the tall grass near the bank and crouched down.

"My Lady?" Mycah asked, "are you searching for something?"

"I'm no lady," Arya huffed, her head turned towards Mycah standing nearby to her right side before she looked back down towards the grass and the mud-covered bank, "but I thought I saw something." Arya, like so many others, also heard the stories of the stolen rubies; and so, she had an ulterior motive for suggesting that she and Mycah practice their swordplay at the Trident. She wanted to search for any of the legendary rubies of Rhaegar Targaryen after their sparring session. And just now, Arya was certain that she had seen something glow bright red.

"I didn't see anything, my Lady," Mycah said as he stood still while Arya leaned forward, reaching out with one hand towards the muddy bank. As she leaned forward, Arya heard the boy gulp before he said, "my lady, you will fall in if you are not careful."

Arya looked up to see the river rushing down towards the the South. She then looked back down at the bank where she knew she had seen the red glow, 'I saw it… I know I did.' She stared at the area surrounding the bank before she stood back up and then looked back at Mycah, "I know I saw something." Arya looked back towards the river before she stood up and then stepped back away from the bank. She stared at the waters for several seconds hoping that she would see the red glow once again.

But no matter how much she tried; Arya couldn't see the glow again. With her lips pressed together, Arya turned while shaking her head.

'Perhaps I was just seeing things,' Arya thought while asking Mycah if he wanted to continue sparring. However, the boy shook his head before saying that he needed to go back to camp and help his father with the meat for that night's dinner. Arya nodded her head before Mycah rushed past her after dropping the stick onto the grass covered ground. Arya noticed the look of relief on his face when he passed by her, 'why does he have that look? He looks like I do when I am able to run away from the boring needle-craft lessons with Septa Mordane, Jayne, and Sansa.' Arya turned to watch as he rushed off at a quick pace, 'is he relieved that he doesn't have to spar with me? Why would he be relived… we were enjoying ourselves, and…' It was then, in the midst of her thoughts, that Arya caught sight of the familiar glow from what was now her right side. She turned her head towards the glow, only to see the glow moving along with the water towards the South at a fast speed.

Arya released the hold on the stick in her hand before, and with the glow firmly in her sights, she ran along the bank of the river. She could hear a female voice in the distance behind her as she ran. She could here the yell of "Arya! Stop making a fool of yourself!" along with her own racing heartbeat and her own heavy breathing as her eyes remained locked on the glow. She was nearing it… she was so close to it.

'Just a few more seconds!' she mentally yelled before finally running alongside the glow. She then suddenly changed direction towards the waters of the fast flowing river while her run kept her just in front of the glowing object. It was still close to the bank… not too close, but not too far away. Arya knew she would be getting wet as she jumped into the water and just in front of the glow. She was trying to keep her balance from the onrushing water as her eyes tracked the glow coming twoards her.

However, the waves caused by the 'splash!' of her jumping into the water forced the tumbling glow to change direction. Just as it tumbled through the waist high water past Arya close to the bank, she reached out with her right hand. Her heart fell when her grasping hand missed the glow by just inches. However, Arya then felt something wrap against her wrist… and the glowing object stopped moving. Lifting her hand out of the water, Arya started to laugh at the mud caked chain, with sections of dull silver shining under the sunlight, hung off her wrist with a pendant that had a red coloured ruby affixed to it. Or at least Arya thought it was a ruby.

"Arya!" Arya looked up at her sister, Sansa, while raising her arm higher. Arya was laughing just as Joffrey, who had been running alongside Sansa, stopped next to her and yelled out.

"What the hell are you doing down there like a savage!?"

"I found one!" Arya excitedly said as she grabbed the ruby, ignoring the looks of anger on Joffrey's face and the disgust on Sansa's as how wet she looked as the water of the river rushed past her, "I found a ruby… I think it is…" Before she could finish, Arya felt light headed. She felt as if she was being lifted into the air while her eyelids started to get heavy.

"Arya!" Sansa yelled out… this time her voice seemed so far away as Arya now felt herself falling. To a suddenly panicked Sansa, she placed her hands over her mouth and screamed as Arya's eyes rolled to the back of her skull before falling back into the waters of the Trident. The chain attached to the pendent was wrapped around her hand while the ruby remained in her closed fist. "Arya!" Sansa yelled as her sister floated on the surface of the river bfore the current started to take her away, "HELP!"

To Arya, everything had gotten dark. She felt nothingness as she spun around on her legs… her dry legs... and yelled out into the darkness around her.

"Hello!? Father!? Sansa!?"

There was no echo. Just the sound of her voice seemingly vanishing into the darkness.

'Where am I? What happened?' Arya was in the water; she remembered that much. Looking down at her clothes, she could see that she was completely dry. There was no sign that she had been in the waters of the Trident to grab the ruby and the chain. She spun around again and yelled out for help. As she yelled, she felt fear growing inside her as tears welled up in her eyes.

Suddenly, through the darkness, Arya could hear a voice saying, "_he loves you, Lyanna."_

'Lyanna?' Arya thought to herself, her mind immediately associating that name with her Aunt Lyanna, her father's younger sister who died during Robert's Rebellion. And that voice, there was something familiar about that voice that Arya couldn't immediately place. 'Why am I hearing this voice? And what does it have to do with Aunt Lyanna?'

All of a sudden, Arya felt as if her head was about to burst when the darkness around her was replaced by a room with stone walls, a roaring hearth to her left, a fur-lined blanket covered bed to her right, and a young man with dark black hair, steel grey eyes, and a long face seated at a table before he stood up. She heard a door behind her slam shut as she walked towards the man who Arya found familiar, but she could not put her finger on who he was.

"_He loves me?" _Arya heard herself say; however, her lips were not moving. She could feel an anger rising within her as she approached the young man. Her fists were clenched… through no motion of her own. In fact, she had no control over her body. It was as if Arya was riding a horse and she was not commanding it no matter how much she pulled on the reigns. _"He has a bastard in the Eyrie, did you know that?"_

"_Lya…"_

"_Answer me, Ned."_

'Ned?' Arya found herself thinking as she stared at the young man, 'father? Father, is that you?' As Ned looked away with lips pressed together, Arya wondered why Ned had called her Lya, 'Father, it's me. It's Arya! Please hear me, father!'

"_I know he has a bastard, Lya," _Ned said looking back at her with a serious face_, "he loves you. He will keep to one woman… to you… and then…"_

"_And in the meantime, he will fuck…"_

Arya blushed when she heard herself - the voice at least sounded like her even though she wasn't moving her lips - say the word 'fuck'.

"_Don't say that word… you are a Lady and…."_

Arya felt her legs move forward a few steps as her face twisted in anger.

"_Do not assume you can tell me what I can or cannot say, brother," _Arya heard herself – or rather Lya – say_, "that oaf could not keep his hands off the serving wrenches tonight during the feast even though I… his betrothed… was seated right there."_

"_Lyanna."_

'Lyanna… Aunt Lyanna?' Arya thought as she stared at Ned, 'how? How can this be? Am I seeing this through the eyes of Aunt Lyanna or is this just a very bad dream? Or… or… I don't know what this could be.' Arya was getting frightened now as she yelled out, "Father!"

"_Do not Lyanna me, Ned," _Arya heard herself speak just as an image of a young Robert Baratheon formed in her mind. The man was drinking, laughing, and groping every maid and servant who was serving him while Ned and several others were laughing_, "all of you saw what he was doing. Even Brandon watched as the oaf groped one tit after another, and you said nothing!" _Arya was disgusted at the image forming in her mind of the future king as he reached around the shoulder of a serving wrench sitting on his lap and then squeezed her left breast.

'If this is through the eyes of my Aunt, then how am I seeing the past,' Arya thought as she glared at the King while feeling anger boil within her. She could feel herself getting angrier the more Robert laughed while, at the same time, she felt Lyanna's anger as well. However, Arya didn't hear Lyanna say a single word. She looked down at the hand on top of hers, and then turned her head towards Ned. Arya felt Lyanna's face scowl before pulling her hand back and looking away.

Then the image around her shifted back to Ned's chambers.

"_He will be a good husband to you, Lya," _Ned said, his serious expression fading away to one of shame_, "I swear on my honour that he would love you. He will keep to you, and…"_

'Father,' Arya thought to herself in disbelief as images formed in her mind of watching Robert from the corner of her eyes stumbling away, drunk, with two serving maids. She felt anger, sadness, shame, and disappointment; all at the same time.

Arya could only look on as Lyanna turned away from Ned while saying, "_he will not. He may say he loves me, Ned. You may say he will keep to one bed. But I know he will not… I know he will shame me. After all, a man such as Robert Baratheon cannot change his nature."_

"_Lyanna… please, give him a chance."_

"_I trusted you to protect me, Ned," _Lyanna said. And Arya felt Lyanna's anger fall away, only to be replaced by a searching sense of loss. She didn't look back at Ned's face, and Arya could only wonder what her father must have been thinking at that moment. And then everything turned black once again.

"_Promise me, Ned. Promise me. Promise me." _It was Lyanna's voice as if it was coming from a great distance. The voice sounded tired and strained, and it led to Arya yelling out for her aunt. Suddenly, Arya snapped opened her eyes to find herself looking at the top of a tent. The last few words after the strange dream gave her a feeling dread.

'Promise… promise what? What promise did Aunt Lyanna ask father to keep for her?' she thought to herself as she breathed hard before slowly sitting up, 'why? Why was I seeing things through Aunt Lyanna's eyes? What does this all mean?'

TBC.


End file.
